Top Taste, the only Jamaican restaurant in Kingston, NY, is more than just a taste of home.
This sprawling city on the Hudson River, just 100 miles north of New York City, shares one thing with the faraway capital of Jamaica—its name. Home to just over 23,000 residents, Kingston, New York, is a jumbled mixture of architecture and history: limestone houses from Dutch colonial times, and more modern ones built during the rush of wealth brought when IBM opened a manufacturing plant in the ‘50s.
In his 20s, Bartley moved to the Bronx, where some of his family already lived. He got a job at a canning factory and worked there for nearly 30 years. When his employer relocated to Boston, Bartley called it quits and moved to Kingston, preferring the slower speed of life he saw there. A sign above the shop’s door advertises Top Taste as a takeout restaurant, though visitors can also eat at one of two tables squeezed into the tiny storefront. Often, deep in conversation with Bartley or Melenda, customers will unpack their to-go orders and eat while they talk.
While many of Bartley’s customers are Jamaicans yearning for familiar dishes, non-Jamaican locals have gotten hooked on the place, too. David Edwards, a deacon at the neighborhood church, was born in New York City but has lived in Kingston for 35 years. Since he first found Top Taste, Edwards has come in for oxtail as often as he can, and slowly turned more and more of his church onto Bartley’s cooking. Today, he’s picking up lunch for the bishop.
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